250 Shillings Wildlife of Somalia and East Africa

Somalia in 1998 was operating without a functioning central government — the state had collapsed in 1991 and would not reconstitute meaningful authority for years. These coins were struck not from any sovereign monetary need but entirely for the collector market, commissioned through foreign minting intermediaries and never intended for domestic circulation. The trimetallic construction was chosen purely for visual appeal to buyers abroad.

KM#48a distinguishes this from the related bimetallic issue, KM#48.